The Dirty Nil have become one of my favourite bands, so when I saw their name on the list for this summer's Bandshell concerts at The Ex, I knew I wanted to be there to capture the show.
Spoiler alert, they did not disappoint. They played a killer set featuring tunes from their new album The Lash plus awesome tunes from across their catalog. Check out the setlist here.
Oklahoma's Ben Quad opened up the show. The pics from their set are here.
I've also covered The Dirty Nil a few times. check out my pics from their shows at:
Oklahoma's Ben Quad performed on The Bandshell stage at this summer's edition of The Ex. The band have lots of local fans who showed up to enthusiastically cheer on the band as they performed their dynamically varied set with high energy and intensity. They even got a circle pit going.
I loved the band's hard rocking and super energetic set that warmed up the crowd for The Dirty Nil. Check out my pics of their set here.
The Ex is a consistent indicator of the end of summer. It runs for the last two weeks of August and up to Labour Day. One of my favourite things about The Ex is the bands that perform at The Bandshell. They're free concerts with admission to the fair.
This year, July Talk was one of the artists I caught at The Bandshell. They put on a powerful set, which is no surprise to any of us who have seen the band before - they always deliver a powerful set. It featured so many amazing tunes. The first tune of the encore was performed solo by Peter Dreimanis and it came from the movie Sinners. The tune is "Wild Mountain Thyme". Overall, it was a fantastic show!
The Darcys opened up the show. My pics of their set are here.
I've covered July Talk a number of times in the past. Check out my pics from shows at:
The Darcys performed at The Bandshell at The Ex this past summer. They warmed up the crowd for July Talk's headlining set. Check out my pics of July Talk right here.
I've covered The Darcys a bunch in the past. Check out my photos from their shows at:
English musician, singer and songwriter Howard Jones is probably best known for his big hits from the 80s like “What Is Love?”, “New Song”, and “Things Can Only Get Better”. The latter tune has had a recent resurgence since it appeared in the hit Netflix series Stranger Things.
I've loved Jones' music since I first heard "New Song" back in the day. However, this show at the Canadian National Exhibition (a.k.a., The Ex or The CNE) was my first time seeing him live. He puts on a great show, telling stories and singing his songs with a colourful backdrop. He and his duo of musical partners performed tunes from his latest release, Transform, as well as hits from across his catalog. It was a fun walk down memory lane to hear my old favourites performed live. They've lasted so well because, at their core, they're excellent songs, and not products of a fashion or trend.
I've included some of my favourite Howard Jones tunes below. The setlist for this show is here.
Dave Sampson opened up the show with his heartfelt folk tunes. Check out my photos and some tunes here.
